


Rhiannon Clarke and the Secret of Slytherin House

by icbdrummergirl



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bigotry & Prejudice, Child Abuse, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Freeform, Muggle-born Slytherin, Original Character(s), harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:08:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27217684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icbdrummergirl/pseuds/icbdrummergirl
Summary: Rhiannon Clarke was finally getting away from that house. That house that was never a home to her. The letter had arrived a month earlier, and her life had rapidly changed since then. Now she was off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and she was more nervous than ever before. But nothing could be worse than spending another moment at home-- right?
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	1. Escape

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PerfidiouslySnatching](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerfidiouslySnatching/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Astoria Greengrass and the Muggle-Born Slytherin](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20340886) by [PerfidiouslySnatching](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerfidiouslySnatching/pseuds/PerfidiouslySnatching). 



> This work is a gift to my good friend PerfidiouslySnatching, and is based off their original character Rhiannon Clarke. It may be a gift, but I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it for you! This story is based off of their wonderful series, which you may find here: [Astoria of Slytherin series](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1462606)
> 
> And if you're familiar with their work, you know that they always have a song rec!  
> [Rearviewmirror by Pearl Jam](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf2LDmkzmwo)

The colors blurred past as the train cut through the countryside, steady on its journey and brimming with the excitement of its occupants. The laughter and chatter of children echoed through the carriages of the Hogwarts Express, mixing in harmony with the rattle of the wheels of the sweets trolley and the footsteps chasing after it.

Tucked away in an isolated compartment, in the company of the abandoned luggage of some third years who had long since departed to find their friends, sat a girl with curly strawberry blonde hair and dirty trainers. She sat with her cheek pressed against the window, the cool glass bringing relief to the bruise that was hidden beneath layers of stolen concealer that she would have to reapply before the others returned.

Rhiannon Clarke was painfully aware of her few belongings, packed as carefully as possible inside her busted suitcase. She had managed to smuggle an ancient suitcase from her parents’ room two days prior, and though it had fallen into a state of disrepair, it was better than rubbish bags. It smelled of mold and had taken some intense scrubbing, but she had finally been satisfied in packing her belongings inside. It wasn’t until late the night before that it had become broken, after it had been thrown down the stairs. She had quickly scrambled to toss everything back inside and had only just managed to hold the clasp shut with the hair tie on her wrist when her mother’s hand had connected with the left side of her face. Eager to get away from her mother’s drunken shrieks to get out of the house, she had grabbed her suitcase and fled, a bottle following her to the door and shattering against the frame. In the coolness of the night, she had hurried through the streets, praying not to attract attention of those that were lurking at that hour. Thankfully, she had arrived safely at P.R.’s shop, using the key he had given her in case of an emergency and taking refuge for the final hours of night. That morning, she had made the journey to King’s Cross, after making sure to cover the pitiful bruise spreading across her cheekbone.

Nervous jitters curled through her stomach as the icy tendrils of anxiety took their hold. _What if she was sent back home? What if they had sent her a letter by mistake and she wasn’t supposed to be there? Perhaps they had meant to send her letter to another 11-year-old named Rhiannon Clarke trapped within the dilapidated neighborhood she had managed to temporarily escape?_

She was unsure of how long she had been resting against the window, but the sky had grown darker with each minute. They must be getting close now, right? With a heavy sigh, she undid her makeshift clasp and made a note to learn a spell for repairing items as soon as possible. She chanced a cautious glance down the corridor, noticing the other students that had changed into her robes. Ducking back into the compartment, she hastily fixed her makeup, then put on her own plain black robes. She didn’t know what all the colors meant but had seen at least 3 different sets of robes since she had made it onto the train and had met some exceedingly pushy older students with shiny badges on their chests. Colors be damned, Rhiannon would happily wear nothing if it meant she would be away from her mother for a whole term.

*** * ***

In her two months spent as a Hogwarts student, Rhiannon had learned many things. First, that the food was phenomenal, and she would never feel the all-too-familiar pangs of hunger while in the castle walls. Second, magic was incredible, and she would never quite get over the feeling of holding her wand in her hands. Third, the poltergeist, Peeves, was not to be trifled with. She had made a crude gesture at him after he had dumped water on her one morning, and he had stolen her bag and buried it in Mrs. Norris’s litter box.

The grand staircase was constantly shifting.

The Transfiguration classroom had a piece of Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum melted onto the corner of the desk in the rear left corner.

The climb to the Astronomy Tower was absolutely exhausting on Wednesday evenings, and the late-night arrival back to her Common Room interfered with her chances of procuring her favorite muffins on Thursday mornings.

And most importantly, she had learned why the other students did not typically befriend the occupants of Slytherin House.

The night of her sorting, she had quickly been appraised by the others occupying the long table. After finding an empty space near the twins who had been sorted into the same house not long before her, she decided to keep her head down, studying the gold plates and cutlery before her with wide eyes. She tried to keep her attention on the sorting ceremony, but the most obnoxious voice she had ever heard kept invading her senses.

“Oh, _Draco,_ tell the story about the mudblood again!”

Curiosity peaked, she glanced up from the table to see a boy with slicked-back platinum blonde hair grinning at a brunette girl across from him.

“Ah, yes. Weasel’s little girlfriend! Father says that the Weasleys have been blood traitors for decades, you know! She was all worried on the train, checking every compartment for Weasley and Potter. Maybe Dumbledore has finally come to his senses and is weeding out the riffraff,” he sneered.

The two abnormally large boys on either side of him let out a sound that might have been laughter, but more resembled the cries of the walruses she had seen at the zoo on her class field trip last year. The brunette girl squealed with laughter, resting her head on her hand in painfully obvious admiration of the blonde boy. Rhiannon scrunched her face in frustration, not knowing what a blood traitor was, let alone who any of the people they were talking about were.

“Then again, if he had really come to his senses, they wouldn’t have let in a filthy mudblood like Granger. Wait until Father hears that Potter and his grubby sidekick didn’t make it to school this year! He’ll be so pleased, and maybe he can convince the others on the Board to kick out the rest of that family of charity cases. Honestly, it would be the kind thing to do! Perhaps with all the money they would save, maybe they could add on a second room to the hovel they call a home!”

She cringed as the laughter cut through her concentration once again, turning in her seat to face the staff table at the front of the hall. As she turned away, she caught the eye of one of the twins, who offered her a small smile. She shyly returned it before hastily looking away once more.

After an evening of listening to the opinions of the boy she had learned to be Draco Malfoy and eating far more food than her stomach had been prepared for, she followed the throng of students from her table to the dungeons of the castle. Following a brief explanation of how to find her dormitory, she quietly climbed the stairs to her level. Her roommates, upon her entry, snickered as they took in her shabby appearance and the matching state of her lone suitcase. A simple glance around the room at the large, polished trunks of her roommates told her all she needed to know about their financial status, and she felt her cheeks heat in embarrassment.

“Where did you even find that? The trash,” asked one girl from the far-left side of the room.

Rhiannon, taking a breath and choosing to hold her head up high, braced herself to face the girl, “No, it’s me suitcase. It used to be me dad’s.”

The other girls snickered at her accent, but they backed off a little at her answer.

“So your dad was a muggle, then,” asked another girl from the center of the room.

She blinked in confusion for a moment, not quite knowing what a “muggle” was, but decided it was best to just go along with them for now, “Erm, yeah.”

“A half-blood, then,” one sighed in disappointment, “The pure bloods are thinning out more and more these days. My mother says that the pure blood is wasted on the blood traitors.”

Rhiannon, realizing that her interrogation was at least temporarily over, chose to kick off her trainers and slide her exhausted limbs under the covers of her ridiculously soft bed. She was out in minutes.


	2. Lucky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Chamber of Secrets has been opened
> 
> Enemies of the heir... beware

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Her Diamonds by Rob Thomas](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mydxnafdRJE)

_The Chamber of Secrets has been opened_

_Enemies of the heir… beware_

The words had been buzzing through the halls of the castle for a week now, and she had heard Draco Malfoy loudly discussing the danger at meals. Since her first night, she had learned that a Mudblood was an insult describing a person who was muggle-born, and that a muggle was a non-magical person. With this information, she had learned that she was a muggle-born, and that her fellow Slytherins looked down on muggle-born individuals with vigor. She decided that it would be better for her peers to see her as a poor half-blood rather than a poor muggle-born, and so she kept that information to herself.

It wasn’t until the first muggle-born student was attacked that she realized just how deep the hatred of muggle-born students ran in the Slytherin house, stemming from its founder—Salazar Slytherin. It was more important than ever to keep her secret.

* * *

_Pain._

Pain was all that she could feel radiating through her mangled arm, pulsing beneath the bandages. She was lucky to be alive, they told her. Lucky that she hadn’t been petrified like the others. Lucky to still have her arm. She was just so _lucky_. From her bed in the hospital wing, she could hear the students in the hallway trying to get a look at the Muggle-born Slytherin _. Filthy, dirt-poor Mudblood._ Through her tears, she could make out the shape of Madam Pomfrey, tending to the petrified students. It was silent within the hospital wing, only the cruel words from the hallway could be heard, until finally the Matron had cast a silencing charm.

The professors had known even before they asked her if her parents were muggles, and it was the looks on their faces that scared her the most. Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, even Professor Snape had come to see her, though it was mostly to ensure her safety. She told her story again and again—that she had left the D.A.D.A. classroom in a hurry, tripped, and dropped her books. Montel Davis had helped her to gather some stuff, and once she was alone, she had heard something move behind her. Then she had seen the slender shadow above her, and she _knew_. School had never really been much of her thing, even before Hogwarts, but she did remember reading about the basilisk in her mythology courses. That alone had made her shut her eyes.

For her safety, she was kept in the hospital wing, trapped amongst the empty stares of the petrified students, the sole occupants of the neighboring beds. She did not want visitors, though a few students with ill intent had managed to sneak inside to pester her. Madam Pomfrey, upon seeing these instances immediately deducted house points and doled out detentions to all guilty parties. Despite her insistence on no visitors, the Carrow twins came to visit daily, though Hestia was clearly the most concerned party. Rhiannon was weary to allow others in to see her, particularly Slytherin students, but she did not want to turn them away when they had journeyed all the way from the dungeons. She had reached the point where she could now tell them apart, mostly due to Flora’s dismissal and the slightly pinker tinge to Hestia’s skin. In addition to the twins, Montel Davis had been dropping off her assignments every afternoon, once even sneaking her a handkerchief with 3 of the muffins she liked most.

* * *

A week in the hospital wing had kept her away from the insanity of the events plaguing the rest of the school. Ginny Weasley had been taken into the Chamber of Secrets. Dumbledore was gone. Hagrid, the groundskeeper, had been taken away to Azkaban. Hermione Granger had been carried in and placed on the bed right beside her. All in the matter of just a few days, Hogwarts had been turned upside down. Harry Potter had traveled to the monster’s layer, accompanied by his best friend, Ron Weasley and the overly obnoxious D.A.D.A. professor, Gilderoy Lockhart. He had slain the Basilisk and saved Ginny Weasley. The school was buzzing with rumors, and that Tuesday when she was released, she found that many of those rumors were about her. Upon returning to the common room, she had heard Blaise Zabini call her a mistake, and Pansy Parkinson had joked that at least they knew she hadn’t bribed her way into Slytherin with money. Her roommates had refused to acknowledge her existence, and one night they had locked her out of the room, forcing her to go to Snape. Two days after that incident, she was passively picking at her breakfast alone when she heard someone clear their throat from behind her.

“Excuse me, I only wondered… Are you Rhiannon Clarke?”

She gestured vaguely at the empty benches around her, “Pretty good guess, innit?”

He gave her a sympathetic grimace, “I’m Harry Potter. I wanted to… Well, I wanted to see how you were doing.”

She gave a bitter laugh, turning to face him with a stony expression, “Yeah, I’m just great.”

He winced, awkwardly clenching his fists. “I didn’t mean to,” he hesitated, sitting down beside her to lower his voice. “I only meant, that you’re the one that was bitten? So was I.”

Her eyes widened in surprise, and she scanned him for signs of damage, “Come off it, if you were bitten like me, why do you look normal?”

“Phoenix tears,” he began, pulling up his sleeve to show his perfectly healed skin, “Dumbledore’s got a phoenix named Fawkes that found me in time and reversed the venom. Plus, only a tooth went into my arm, I wasn’t fully attacked like you. Dumbledore, he told me that when they found you, Fawkes cried over your wounds, but there just wasn’t enough left to save.”

She swallowed hard, feeling the tears threatening to fall as she remembered that she would be horribly deformed for the rest of her days. _Lucky_.

“Anyway, I just wanted you to know that you are not alone, and… If you ever want to talk about what happened, or if you need me to hex Malfoy for you, you can come find me.” He gently placed his hand on her good shoulder, and offered her a genuine smile, “Take care of yourself, Rhiannon.”

And with that, she was alone once more, left to endure the worst summer yet.


End file.
